Pacific Rim

Rating: 4/10 (20 September 2018)

I assumed when I heard about this movie, it was one based on video game, it isn't, but I had the feeling before watching it that it was going to be cheesy, and I wasn't wrong, directed by Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, The Shape of Water). Basically in a futuristic world, an interdimensional portal called the "Breach" opens at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, from which giant monsters called the Kaiju emerge. To combat the Kaiju threat, humanity builds massive robotic machines called Jaegers, each machine is piloted by two or more people, who are mentally linked in a process called "Drifting", sharing the mental stress. In 2020, the Becket brothers, Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff), pilots of Gipsy Danger, are launched to defend Anchorage from monster Knifehead. During the battle, Knifehead kills Yancy, Raleigh barely pilots the machine alone, but kills the Kaiju and crashed on the shoreline, traumatised by his brother's death, Raleigh quits the Jaeger program. Five years later, the power and numbers of Kaiju have increased, causing world governments to end funding for the continuous construction of Jaegers in favour of defence walls. Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) moves the four remaining Jaegers to the last Jaeger Shatterdome in Hong Kong and plans to end the Kaiju War by destroying the Breach with a nuclear weapon. Striker Eureka, piloted by Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and his son Chuck (EastEnders' Robert Kazinsky) kills Mutavore in Sydney, Australia, demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the walls. Pentecost persuades Raleigh to rejoin the program, they meet with Jaeger restoration program director Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi). Raleigh and Mako try their first drift, but Mako is almost lost in the memory of a Kaiju attacking Tokyo, which killed her family, and she is relieved of piloting duty, it is relieved that Pentecost saved and raised her. Pentecost consults Kaiju experts Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) to plan the assault on the Breach. Using a piece of Kaiju brain, Newton discovers the monsters are scouts sent by invading beings from another dimension, his discovery also establishes a two-way mental link, allowing the Kaiju to gain knowledge from his, as he did from them. Pentecost tasks Newton with finding black market dealer and seller Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) for a fresh piece of Kaiju brain. Later, monsters Leatherback and Otachi emerge and rampage through Hong Kong, Otachi destroys Crimson Typhoon and Leatherback destroys Cherno Alpha, Striker Eureka loses all power from an EMP blast, but Gipsy Danger manages to kill both Kaiju. Newton and Chau find out that Otachi is pregnant, an infant Kaiju is born, swallows Chau whole, and dies, drifting with the infant's brain, Newton and Hermann discover the Breach will only open in the presence of a Kaiju's DNA. Pentecost is dying from radiation sickness from piloting a Jaeger with a nuclear core, he gives a rallying speech and pilots Striker Eureka with Chuck, as Herc is injured. Along with Gipsy Danger, they approach the Breach; three Kaiju, Scunner, Raiju and Slattern emerge to defend it. After Raiju is killed, Pentecost and Chuck sacrifice themselves by detonating the bomb, which kills Scunner and wounds Slattern. Raleigh and Mako kill Slattern and drag it to the Breach, where Mako is ejected and Raleigh successfully overloads the Jaeger's reactor, destroying and closing the Breach. Raleigh and Mako surface in the Pacific Ocean in escape pods, Herc orders the war clock to be stopped, indicating mankind's victory and Raleigh and Mako embrace, Chau is also seen alive, cutting himself out of the Kaiju infant. Also starring Clifton Collins Jr. as Ops Tendo Choi. Hunnam is okay, he and Kikuchi don't have a convincing romantic chemistry, Day and Gorman are stereotypical as the silly comedy double-act scientist buddies, only the performance of Elba seems credible as the leader of the resistance. It is a simple concept, monsters that come from another world through a portal in the ocean, and giant mind-controlled robots are built to fight them to the death, there are no complaints about the stylish and visually impressive special effects to bring the creatures, machines and action to life, and it does have the del Toro visual flourishes, but the daft dialogue and overall lack of engaging stuff slow things down most of the time, I felt like turning it off at some points because of how boring it became, it is a nonsense science-fiction action adventure. Okay!